Beyond a doubt, plotting was my original Achilles heel in novel development. While writing The Fourth Channel, that issue was painfully apparent after I had to write the damn thing from scratch three times. The LoO story was planned the same way (not at all – like a really bad episode of “LOST”) and now I have some new thoughts about how I can attack a new novel properly and with better efficiency.

Granted, this is just what works for me and that isn’t necessarily going to work for everyone. But here are my thoughts, as inexperienced as they are, thus far.

First of all, when I get an idea, it’s usually about a character or a scene that I think is interesting. But that’s all I’ve got. There’s usually no plot involved, just an interesting scene with an interesting character. At that point, I start writing. Three entire chapters will roughly be involved before I really get to the nub of the story, that is, the plot. I think it doubtful that anything written in those three chapters will even be incorporated into the story: All that comes out in those first three chapters is most likely the characters’ backstory. If I had realized this with the LoO story and started that way, I would be much more likely to finish it. I really didn’t get around to figuring out what the plot was until about the 4th or 5th chapter, which is too bad because I really liked where the story was eventually going — but that word “eventually” makes a novel a rather painful read. If I could go back and write the LoO story over, I would, and I know exactly what I would change.

Also, when working on the initial few chapters, don’t concentrating on writing well. Don’t stop to think about what the exciting first sentence(s) you need to grip the reader with. Chances are no one will see what’s going down. Just write and, if you must, intentionally write badly. The intent is to get the initial creative juices flowing, not to be poetic.

After the three initial “trash chapters” or “backstory chapters” are written, it’s time to put them in the ol’ back pocket for reference and start over with a real chapter 1. To do that, I like to mull the story around for a bit first. I’ll think about a scene or a character and let different options roll around in my head. And then I still won’t write it. I might jot ideas down somewhere, maybe not. More often than not, I’ll just keep mulling it over. I’ve stayed awake for hours, lying in bed and staring at the ceiling, just thinking things over. I get so entertained by thinking things over that before I know it, it’s the middle of the night and I have no clue where the hours went. (Like last night. Oops!)

When I’m ready to start jotting things down, I like to use a wiki. Tom maintains an online wiki for me so I can keep names and locations that’s accessible from anywhere. A running list of names is helpful so I can compare all of them and, if I have too many that look similar or start with the same letter, I change them so a reader doesn’t keep mistaking one person for another. Also, the wiki is also helpful for me so I can keep a short synopses of chapters that I can refer to later. I think the synopses thing is just a me-thing. It just helps me solidify my ideas and keep everything organized in text format.

My favorite way of plotting is by use of visio charts. Some well known, established authors allegedly use huge rolls of butcher paper with sticky notes that they can move around. As much as I love sticky notes (and I do <3 them) visio works out a lot better for me.

Here’s an example of the next book I’m going to start working on as soon as the current one is finished. I’ve made the picture really small so you can’t read the text (no spoilers, omg!):

Visio makes everything very malleable, so if I want to move the boxes around, I can. I’m not totally hooked on Visio as a brand, it’s just what I have in front of me. One of these days I should try an open source version. Maybe I will with the next book.

Anyway. Now since this book is in a conceptual state, the scenes/plot points are in the solid boxes. Additional notes and themes that I want included with those chapters, but I don’t want to forget about, are connected in the dotted boxes. The protagonist is on one side of the orange line, and the antagonist is on the other. Because this is written in third person, I will be periodically showing both sides of the story, and I want my visio chart to reflect when I do that. Yes, it helps me to determine that beforehand, and the visio boxes allow me to decide when I want to switch over and show how I’m moving the antagonist’s story along.

As you can see, I’m still kicking around how the last 1/3 of the book is going to go, so I’ve got the one blank box down at the bottom waiting to be completed. And I can do that easily. I don’t have to commit to it now, it just shows that it’s waiting to be finished and pushes me to start thinking about how I’m going to end this thing.

As I sit down to write the story and the plot solidifies, the visio chart will become much more streamlined; the dotted boxes will go away and text will become much shorter.

Here’s a small version of where The Fourth Channel is now. The plot, in its first stages, took up two visio tabs and extended all across the page — which was awesome, because I could visually see that the book was getting way too long and needed to be cut back. (Make room for sequels!) Now The Fourth Channel plot is just one side of a single visio page.

The new book is definitely coming along, and I am really pleased that I’ll have an immediate project to dive into as soon as The Fourth Channel is wrapped up.

More thoughts later.

Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve updated my blog. I’m around and have been working away like a busy bee, but haven’t really felt a strong need to blog. I want to get back into it and I do have lots of food photos to share.

I’ve also been working on my first novel. Oddly enough, I posted exactly a year ago saying I was almost finished with this book. And I was. Sort of. Because this is my first novel, I really wanted to take my time and do as good of a job as I could. Nearly every day, as Tom can attest, I’ve worked on this thing. It’s been written 3 times — last year when I posted, I had only written it twice. Every time I rewrote the story, I learned a ton about writing.

This final version is the final and best version, and I am going to submit it to some agents to see what happens. I feel stressed, but what do I have to lose? The worst (and most likely) outcome is that they will say no. If that happens, I’ll go another route – self publishing or internet or whatever.

At the time of this post, I have two chapters left to write and then I need to go through and finish my edits. The first three chapters are pretty much done and I’ve been passing them around. I even already have fans in my church, if you can believe that. It’s a weird feeling to know that I have fans, but it’s really encouraged me.

The book is called “The Fourth Channel” (sorry, I don’t know how to underline in HTML) and if you’re interested in taking a peek at the first chapter, post a comment below or send me an email.

I’m very excited about having this book done. Already my brain is churning over the next book, which is actually the practice book I had been working on before this one. A few days ago, I woke up at 3AM, and the first chapter just hit me. The idea is an exciting new and gritty start to the story, giving it a whole new flavor and tons of possibilities, and I’m excited to get going. Now that I’ve learned so much working on this current book, I expect new projects to go a lot faster. At least, I hope.

In gaming news, I’m sure it hasn’t escaped anyone’s attention that I disappeared from WoW yet again. Sorry. I’ve been playing a PS3 game called Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice. It’s a strategy game, which appeals to me because I loved Final Fantasy Tactics. Disgaea is similar in that it’s a strategy game, but it’s like FFT on crack. So when I’m playing games, I’ve been playing that. Maybe I’ll get back into WoW, but I think I’m nurturing a healthy fear of Sabe hitting level 80 and, if I invest a couple more hours into her, that’s what she’ll be.

And yes, she’s still dressed like the Ghost of Arenas Past.

My sound room is also done. In my spare time (har) I’ve been working on elements for a music project that is going to be coming very soon. Not much to say about that yet, but soon.

More to come, and hopefully some food related topics! Tom and I have a lot of cookouts and BBQ’s on the social calendar so I’ll have a wealth of photos and recipes to share… So stay tuned.